President Barack Obama is expected today to sign into law bipartisan legislation that would reform more than a decade of No Child Left Behind policies, an especially important win for schools in Alaska, according to Alaska U.S. senators.
“What we have with this education reform is an opportunity to not only update our education laws, but to end the one-size-fits-all approach that No Child Left Behind gave us that clearly didn’t work in the state of Alaska and clearly didn’t work around the country,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said during a press conference Wednesday.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) — born from the U.S. Senate’s Every Child Achieves Act and the House of Representatives’ Student Success Act — eliminates year-to-year progress based on standardized tests as a determinant for federal funds in Title I schools.
Under the ESSA, states would still be required to administer statewide assessments for third through eighth graders, and high school testing for English, language arts, math and science. It’s what these scores mean for schools that would change.
If the reform is approved, individual states will be in charge of determining how to identify schools that are not meeting goals, and deciding how to intervene in schools that need help.
Also eliminated is the “highly qualified teacher” standard, which calls for core subject instructors to have a bachelor’s degree, full state certification and proof they are capable in each subject they teach. States would regain control in determining standards teachers must meet for certification and licensure.
“We have moved from the model of our national school board to a model where the control and the authority is brought back home, back to the states, back to the communities, back to the school districts,” Murkowski said.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, echoed Murkowski’s sentiment in a press release that local control is important for local success.
“The ESSA eliminates the federal Common Core mandate, which so many Alaskans have opposed, and prevents the federal government from acting as a national school board,” Sullivan said. “And while this bill isn’t perfect, it restores control of schools back to teachers, local school boards, states, and engaged parents, who are the best educators.”
Also part of the proposed legislation is a requirement that states consult with tribes when planning in a “meaningful and timely” manner, and the creation of a program to support native language immersion schools.
Although both Alaska senators declared this a major victory for the Last Frontier, Juneau School District Superintendent Mark Miller said he doesn’t anticipate any changes at the local level.
“We’re still going to have principal evaluations just like we have, and we’re still going to continue the testing we do because it’s important and gives us good information,” Miller said.
In regards to less stringent teaching certification requirements, Miller had this to say: “While its nice that (control is) returning to the local level and there’s not as much reporting to the federal government, as far as the day-to-day operations, this is not a huge change. We still want our teachers to be the very best, most highly trained that they can be.”
• Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or at paula.solis@juneauempire.com.
